Can't get the periodic table of elements out of your head? Why not have the entire thing etched into the surface of a single strand of your hair?

Advertisement

Green chemistry expert Professor Martyn Poliakoff has a lovely head of mad scientist-worthy hair, and now one piece of that hair is sporting the ultimate mad scientist reference guide. The periodic table of elements is a display of all known chemical elements, constantly changing as new discoveries give us deeper insight into the various building blocks that make up the universe.

Wielding the combined power of an electron microscope and an ion beam writer, experts at the University of Nottingham's Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Centre managed to etch all 118 currently known elements onto the side of a single strand of Professor Poliakoff's hair.

Advertisement

Why? Because it was his birthday, of course.

This is what scientists do for each other on birthdays. Sometimes they etch nano-scale charts on each other's hair. Other times they create new life for each other to keep as pets, or so I imagine.

A million of these tiny periodic tables would fit on a Post-It note, but that wouldn't be nearly as personal a birthday gift.